Page:Aeneid (Conington 1866).djvu/256

232 Then, steeped in venom's direst gall,

Alecto spreads her wing

For Latium and the stately hall

Of the Laurentian king,

Alights, and sits her down before

Amata's silent chamber-door:

Who, musing on the new-come host

And Turnus' hopes malignly crossed,

Was seething o'er, unhappy queen,

With woman's passion, woman's spleen.

The goddess snatched a serpent, bred

'Mid the dark ringlets of her head,

And hurled it at the dame,

That she, made frantic by the smart

Deep working in her inmost heart,

Might set the house flame.

In glides the snake, unfelt, unseen,

Thin robe and ivory breast between,

And breathing in its poisonous breath,

Enwraps her in a dream of death:

Now with her golden necklace blends,

Now from her fillet's length depends,

With serpent gold her tresses binds,

And smoothly round her person winds.

So, when the viperous influence

Is first distilling o'er the sense,

Nor yet the soul has caught entire

The fever of contagious fire,

Gently, as mother might, she speaks,

The hot tears rolling down her cheeks,

Tears for her hapless daughter shed

And Phrygia's hated bridal bed:

'And shall a Dardan fugitive,

O father, with Lavinia wive?

And will you not compassion take

For daughter's, sire's, or mother's sake?